To keep kids safe, some parents may want to add parental controls to their computers and mobile devices. NOTE: We recognize that this can be a sensitive subject and that reasonable minds can differ as to whether parents should monitor their children’s online activities like this. We think that we…

Amazon has just rolled out their “Hire a Goat Grazer” service, through their Amazon Home Services (which used to be called Amazon Local), through which you can hire a herd of goats, along with a goatherd, to graze and forage your yard or land. No, it’s not an April Fools’ joke.

People and businesses owed a refund by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) ([Page no longer available – we have linked to the archive.org version instead]) Names starting with numbers, and A through Bznun 0T0 RODNEY N 1NKU492 $52.00 1 DIRECT LLC 4EEL489 $23.00 1 MTRS INC 37741 3DUY790…

Last month, at the RSA Conference, computer security expert Dan Geer told the assembled security and cryptography experts “We are all intelligence officers now.” (RSA stands for Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman – Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman together developed the RSA crypto algorithm.)

The Zello Walkie Talkie app is quickly becoming the one to one, and one to many, secure communications app for protestors around the world. That’s because Zello (not to be confused with Zillow) is secure, light weight, available in many languages, works over 3G, GPRS, Edge, and wifi, and it’s free. There are versions for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and PC. It’s available in Chinese, Czech, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, Hebrew, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese and Swedish.

We’re all familiar with the movies and stories about jurors who skirt or even violate rules in the name of “real justice” (one of our favorites is the little-known movie Suspect, with Liam Neeson, Dennis Quaid, John Mahoney (best known as Frasier’s dad), and Cher). But it’s become a serious problem as the confluence of Google, social media, and smartphones in the pocket of every juror has led to a phenomenon known as the “Googling juror”, or “digital disobedience”. Put simply, jurors are taking matters into their own hands, doing extra-curricular (and extra-legal) research, and also sharing information on social media, which is throwing trials, and even causing mistrials.

Are you an iPhone or an Android person? Or do you use a Blackberry? This question goes much deeper than just showing which mobile operating system (OS) you prefer – according to a survey released this past Valentines Day by Match.com, it shows how loose you are – will you have sex on the first date?

If you were one of an untold number of people who received a particular iTunes update, it will likely have planted a Trojan backdoor on your computer or smartphone (primarily iPhone or Blackberry) which allows government and law enforcement agencies access to your personal data. Let us be quick to add that this is a fake iTunes update. The malware (or “commercial software” depending on which side of this you are on) is sold primarily by three companies: Gamma FinFisher, Vupen Security, and HackingTeam. Gamma’s FinFisher product is from the UK, Vupen Security is out of France, and HackingTeam is in Italy, however all of the companies sell their software around the world.

Cell phone companies are scrambling amid growing concerns over the Carrier IQ (or “CIQ”) software that has shipped preinstalled (and undisclosed) on many, many smartphones across several carriers, as demands for full disclosure and accountability increase, Federal representatives demand answers, and some suggest that the use of the software, which is alleged to log keystrokes, websites visited, and location, violates Federal wiretapping law. Trevor Eckhart, who first discovered and outed what Carrier IQ was doing, went so far as to call it a “rootkit”.

If the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has its way, the proposed merger between AT and T and T-Mobile will be vetoed, because it will create a monopoly in violation of antitrust law. According to papers filed by the DOJ in Federal court, “AT and T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market.”

Digital marketing analysis firm comScore has released a report showing that in terms of marketshare, there are now more (vastly more) Android phones in use than iPhones. With nearly 40% of all smart phones in the U.S. being Android phones, compared to the Apple iPhone having just a little over 25% of the market, Android seems to be eating Apples for lunch. Just how many people are using Android phones as to compared to the number of people using iPhones? Read on…

Ever wish you could share your Kindle books with your friends and family, Kindle to Kindle, or Kindle to Kindle reader app? The latest Kindle news is that now you can! With Amazon’s new Kindle Lending service, you can share books on Kindle which you have purchased with your friends and family, even if they don’t have a Kindle book reader of their own! They can read the books for Kindle that you loan them using the Kindle for Android application, the Kindle for Blackberry app, the Kindle for iPad and iPhone apps, or the Kindle for Mac or Kindle for PC software, all of which are free! If they have an email address, you can loan them your lendable Kindle books free!

What is the truth about cell phones and radiation? While many will tell you that the jury is out – and others will tell you that there is no (conclusive) evidence – many feel that cellphone use presents a health risk in electromagnetic (ionizing) radiation, particularly for children. The reality is that short term studies have found no correlation between cell phone radiation and health problems such as cancer, however the other reality is that there are no long term studies (say, of greater than 10 years) yet, as it is only relatively recently that cellphones have been so commonplace. Of course, the cell phone industry says there is no risk – but that’s what the tobacco industry said too. Now the state of Maine is contemplating requiring cell phones to carry a warning label.

As more and more people go mobile – and more and more people join Facebook – it’s only natural that more and more people want to combine the two, and have Facebook and m login (shorthand these days for “mobile login”). Happily, there is a mobile Facebook login page, and there is also a Facebook mobile application for just about every smartphone out there, so you can m login to your heart’s content. So if you’re wondering “how do I access Facebook on my phone?”, read on to learn about the ways to mobile login to Facebook, and about some of the Facebook mobile applications that are available.

Do you know what you should do if you find a cell phone in the street, at the mall, in a store? If you’ve found a cellphone lying around (or, perhaps, in a taxi or on the bus), it may be that you found a lost cellphone that somebody dropped or that fell out of their pocket or purse, or it may be that you’ve found a stolen cellphone that the thief has now dispensed with. In any case, if you’re wondering “I found a cell phone, what should I do with it?”, here is what you should do if you find a cell phone.